Direct Mail Planning Center
Plan and order your direct mail in three steps
Choose who gets it and how the art arrives, and your order is set up for both. No account is needed to start, and nothing prints until you approve a proof.
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Step 1 of 3 · Who gets itWho should get your mailing?
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Step 2 of 3 · Your artIs your artwork ready?
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Step 3 of 3 · OrderPlace your order
Choose who gets your mailing in Step 1 and your order is set up right here.
Your own address list
Order online and attach your list
Choose the size, paper and quantity as Print + Mail and check out. Attach your list and the art at checkout, or send the art later. Checkout covers the printing; the mailing services and postage are billed from your list. Nothing prints until you approve a proof.
Order Postcards OnlineNo account needed
Mailing something else? Self-mailers · Flats
Your own address list · Design it online
Design it online, then order
Plavidian Studio starts with the size: choose one that mails, marked Letter Size or Flat Size, then design the piece. Order Design Now opens the order page with that size set for Print + Mail: choose the paper and quantity, check out and attach your list. Nothing prints until you approve a proof.
Design It and OrderNo account needed
Every home on chosen routes (EDDM)
Pick your routes and order
Choose carrier routes on the map and see the price, then "Print and Mail to these routes" opens the order page with your routes attached: choose the paper and check out. Upload your art at checkout, or design it in Plavidian Studio. No account needed.
Pick Your Routes and OrderNo sign-in
Every home on chosen routes (EDDM) · Design it online
Pick your routes, order, then design
Choose carrier routes on the map and see the price, then "Print and Mail to these routes" opens the order page with your routes attached. At checkout choose "Design it in Plavidian Studio": the design link opens at your piece's size and attaches the design to the job. No account needed.
Pick Your Routes and OrderNo sign-in
A list built for your area
Build your list and order
Draw the area and set the filters, then "Order with this list" opens the order page with your list attached: choose the paper and quantity and check out. The list price is confirmed with you before anything prints.
Build Your List and OrderNo sign-in
A list built for your area · Design it online
Build your list, order, then design
Draw the area and set the filters, then "Order with this list" opens the order page with your list attached. At checkout choose "Design it in Plavidian Studio": the design link opens at your piece's size and attaches the design to the job.
Build Your List and OrderNo sign-in
A list Plavidian supplies
Tell us who to reach and order
Describe the audience on one form and attach the art. A mail specialist sources the list and confirms the price within one business day.
Describe Your Audience and OrderNo account needed
Want a grade first? Check your print file No sign-in
Design it before or after you order: Open Plavidian Studio No sign-in
Talk the design through first: Book the design consult Pick a time
What is the mailing for?
Still deciding? Compare EDDM and a mailing list, plan every detail step by step, or call 760-666-3130.
Rather talk it through? Get a quote or schedule a phone or video call, or call 760-666-3130. Need more options? Plan every step.
Watch · 1:27
What happens after you plan
The three steps above, then what Plavidian does with your order: printing and addressing in Vista, Plavidian Sentry camera checks on letter-size mail (an add-on), presort and USPS entry, and delivery tracking in Plavidian Insight on addressed mail, then Plavidian Response (an add-on) to see who responded.
Read the transcript
From the first plan to the mailbox, Plavidian runs your whole mailing.
Start in the Direct Mail Planning Center. Pick carrier routes for Every Door Direct Mail, with households and postage on the map. Or build a targeted list by radius, ZIP code or district.
Design it in Plavidian Studio, or upload your own file and let Print File Check catch problems early. You approve a proof before anything prints.
Then our team in Vista, California prints, addresses and finishes your mail in-house.
Add Plavidian Sentry to letter-size mail, and a camera checks every piece against your list. The Assurance Report documents what was produced and presented to USPS.
We presort, tray and pallet every mailing, and enter it with the Postal Service.
Plavidian Insight comes with every addressed mailing, so you can follow USPS scans all the way to delivery.
Add Plavidian Response to addressed postcards, self-mailers and flats, and each piece carries its own QR code and short web address. They open a page made for that person, or your own website. Then see who responded, with every scan, visit and form answer tied to the piece that was mailed.
Plan your mailing at plavidian.com, or call 760-666-3130.
Step-by-step planner
Need more options? Plan every step
Your goal and the area, EDDM or a list, the piece, the cost and the date, and the artwork. Each answer sets up the tool for the next step, and the last step lays out your plan.
Step 1
What are you trying to do?
Choose the goal and the page opens the approach that fits and the tool for the first step. You can change course at any step.
- Acquire new customers
- Reach nearby households
- Reach existing customers
- Reactivate customers
- Reach new movers
- Promote an event or opening
- Build awareness
- Run a recurring campaign
Not sure yet? Start with the area in the steps below.
Your path:
Step 2Your industry
What type of business?
Each industry guide covers how businesses like yours use mail: the campaigns, the audience and area, the pieces that fit and the timing, with the tools set up for them.
Step 3On your path
Where do you want to mail?
Start from the area the way you already think about it. A radius around an address, ZIP codes, a city, county or district, or a shape you draw starts in the Mailing List Builder. Whole carrier routes start in the EDDM Route Builder. Your own customer list goes to Mailing Blueprint or a quote.
Step 4On your path
How do you want to mail?
EDDM sends the same flat piece to every address on the carrier routes you choose, with no list. Addressed mail goes to the households you pick and can carry a name and an offer for each. Choose EDDM when every home on a route is a prospect; choose a list when you need specific households, names, household targeting or a postcard.
Plavidian mails EDDM on its own permit through the business mail entry unit, with a 200-piece minimum and flat-size pieces only. The long read: how to choose between EDDM and a mailing list.
EDDM goes to every address on the carrier routes you pick, with no list, so a customer list mails addressed.
Step 5On your path
What format?
Pick the piece by the job it has to do: a postcard for a short offer, a letter for a personal message, a folded self-mailer for more room, and a flat when the mailing is EDDM.
EDDM mails flat-size pieces only, so the flats are the piece for it. To mail another piece, change “How do you want to mail?” to addressed mail.
Step 6On your path
What will it cost, and when will it arrive?
Direct mail cost is printing, mailing services and USPS postage, plus a list when you mail addressed pieces to people you do not have on file. The date works backward from the day the mail has to be in homes: files and proof approval, printing, mailing services, USPS entry and the USPS delivery window.
Only printing can be paid by card; USPS postage is paid by check or wire, and no mail is released until the postage has cleared. USPS does not guarantee a delivery date, so leave room around a hard date. Turnaround Times has the order cutoffs.
Step 7On your path
Is the artwork ready?
If you have a file, run it through the Print File Check: it grades a PDF or an image A to F for size, bleed, safe zone, resolution, color and fonts, and deletes the file after the check. If you do not, design the piece in Plavidian Studio, free with no account: Order Design Now takes the design to the order page, and it is saved to your order, not downloaded.
You can also attach a file at checkout, or choose "Design it in Plavidian Studio after checkout" or "Send artwork later" there. Nothing prints until you approve the proof.
Step 8On your path
Ready to order?
Standard print products at their listed quantities can be ordered online, with the printing paid by card. A mailing to your own list is ordered the same way, as Print + Mail: attach the list at checkout or send it later, and the mailing services and postage are billed on the job once the list is processed. An EDDM mailing is ordered from the EDDM Route Builder with "Print and Mail to these routes", and a list for your area with "Order with this list" in the Mailing List Builder. A list Plavidian supplies, a drop shipment or a custom quantity gets a custom quote.
A proof is emailed before anything prints.
The whole plan on one page
Every step in order, each with the free tool that does it.
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Count the households in your area by radius, ZIP, city, county, district or a drawn shape, and filter by homeowner or renter, income, age or children.
Open the Mailing List BuilderMailing List Builder No sign-in 
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Decide between EDDM, every address on the carrier routes you pick with no list, and an addressed list of the households you choose.
Compare EDDM and a ListEDDM Route Builder No sign-in 
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Price the printing, mailing services and postage for your quantity, with the split between what can go on a card and what is paid by check or wire.
Estimate the CostMailing Blueprint Free account 
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Design the piece in Plavidian Studio, free with no account, or run your own file through the Print File Check before you order.
Design in Plavidian StudioPlavidian Studio No sign-in 
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Plavidian's plant in Vista, California runs the data processing, printing, addressing and USPS mail preparation, and work an approved vendor produces is held to the Plavidian Standard. Plavidian mails on its own USPS permits, so you need no permit of your own.
Mail Date Planner No sign-in 
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Plavidian Insight is included with every addressed mailing at no separate charge. It follows each addressed piece by its Intelligent Mail barcode through USPS scans, which show mailstream visibility, not proof of delivery. EDDM pieces carry no barcode, so for an EDDM drop the Plavidian Assurance Report is the proof the mailing was delivered to USPS. To count who responds as well, add Plavidian Response: a personal web address and QR code on each addressed postcard, self-mailer or flat.
See Plavidian InsightInsight delivery tracking Included 
Local guides
Mailing a region or a city?
Guides for Southern California regions and cities, starting with San Diego County, where Plavidian prints and mails.
Regions and counties
- Southern California
- San Diego County
- Orange County
- Los Angeles County
- Inland Empire
- North County San Diego
- City market guides
City market guides
Estimate, not a quote · November 10, 2026
What a mailing costs: one worked example
5,000 postcards, 4 x 6, full color, addressed USPS Marketing Mail, entered at the origin post office.
| Item | Amount | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Printing | $310.67 | 14pt Postcards (4" x 6", 14pt, AQ, 4/0 Full Color Front Only): the web price for 5,000 pieces, $0.0621 each. Priced at your quantity, one of the run sizes Order Online prints. |
| Mailing services | $237.50 | $25.00 setup and letter processing and addressing at $42.50 per 1,000. |
| USPS postage | $1,975.00 - $2,335.00 | USPS Marketing Mail, commercial letter prices at origin entry: $0.395 - $0.467 per piece x 5,000 pieces, depending on how your list sorts (Automation 5-Digit to Mixed). The level your mailing earns comes from the presort of your list. |
| Mailing list | Quoted | Plavidian can supply consumer, business, new-mover and saturation lists through licensed data providers, and every list is quoted. Count the households in your area first. |
| Plavidian Insight | $0.00 | Included with every addressed mailing at no separate charge: each addressed piece is followed by its Intelligent Mail barcode through USPS scans. Scans show mailstream visibility, not proof of delivery. |
| Plavidian Sentry | Optional | Optional camera verification for letter-size mail, priced in a quote. |
| Estimated total | $2,523.17 - $2,883.17 | $0.5046 - $0.5766. Excludes the mailing list, which is quoted. |
- Postage from USPS Notice 123, effective July 12, 2026. Final postage is confirmed at USPS acceptance.
- Printing is paid by card; USPS postage is paid by check or wire transfer.
- Your price changes with the quantity, size, paper, list and entry point. A quote confirms it.
Questions about planning direct mail
How far ahead should a direct mail campaign be planned?
Work backward from the in-home date: files and proof approval come first, then printing, mailing services and USPS delivery. The Mail Date Planner builds that schedule for your piece and quantity and names the day each step is due.
Do I need a mailing permit?
No. Plavidian mails on its own USPS permits, including EDDM through the business mail entry unit, so you need no permit of your own.
What is the smallest mailing?
EDDM jobs at Plavidian have a 200-piece minimum. Addressed USPS Marketing Mail needs at least 200 pieces or 50 pounds in a mailing; for a smaller mailing, ask for a quote.
Can Plavidian supply the mailing list?
Yes. Plavidian can supply consumer, business, new-mover and saturation lists through licensed data providers, and lists are quoted. Your own list is CASS processed, deduplicated, and run through NCOALink move update when the mailing needs it.
Can new movers be mailed every month?
Yes, as a repeat program that you confirm each month. Plavidian sets it up from your first order and orders a fresh new-mover list through licensed data providers for each drop. Before each drop you get an email to confirm it, skip it or send new art, and nothing prints or mails until you confirm.
Each confirmed drop is invoiced like any order.
How is a mailing paid for?
Printing can be paid by card. USPS postage is paid by check or wire transfer, never by card, and no mail is released to USPS until the full postage has been received in cleared funds.
Which steps need an account?
None of the planning steps do. The Mailing List Builder, EDDM Route Builder, EDDM or Addressed Mail, the cost calculator, the Mail Date Planner and the Print File Check show results with no sign-in, and Plavidian Studio is free with no account.
Tools that produce a file, such as Mailing Blueprint and Address List Cleanup, need a free Plavidian account.
Ready to plan it with us?
Send the area, the piece and the date. Printing, the list and postage are priced together.
Related
Planning a local direct mail campaign
Where the households are, how USPS sorts the mail, and the tools that open on your area.
- printing and mailing in San Diego County
- direct mail and printing in North County San Diego
- direct mail across Southern California
- direct mail cost: printing, mailing services and postage
- EDDM or a mailing list: the decision tool
- direct mail guides by industry
- city direct mail market guides
- household counts by area with the Mailing List Builder
- EDDM carrier routes and delivery counts
- mail date planning backward from the in-home date
- EDDM or a mailing list: how to choose
- carrier route density and saturation mail guide